November 11, 2014

Every now and again I receive a request on how to cook a pork butt or brisket from a new backyard cook, the friend of a guy or gal who has just purchased a new cooker, or an anxious wife who is looking to help her man serve up something that will make friends and family rave about his cooking prowess. This information is something I don't mind sharing. I learned a great deal from experience over the years, but I've also received some great tips from like minded friends and some pretty cool folks on the competition circuits. Except for some of the deeper closely held secrets there is a great kinship in sharing information with guys (and gals) who are backyard cooks. So here you go.....

Zig's Guide to A Perfect Smokin' Hot Butt

This will work with any smoker or cooker, but is best if you are able to cook low temp (Low & Slow as we say in "the trade") with indirect heat.

The Brine Get Ready

Get you a new 5 gallon bucket from Lowe's or Home Depot. They have bucket lids close by. Get one of those, too. Before you start your brine clear room in the fridge for you brine bucket and do a test run to make sure it fits. Personally I keep a shelf in the Beer Fridge at brine bucket height because, hey, I'm a simple guy. By the way, the brine bucket is a great place to keep your BBQ stuff when you are not cooking.

The Brine -I keep it simple.

1 cup kosher salt

1 cup brown sugar or turbino sugar

A handful of whole peppercorns

zest of one lime

Squeeze in the juice of the lime after zesting

Bonus: For a toasty flavor you can add a cup of black coffee or a bottle of Malta (a soda from the Mexican section at the market)

Mix your brine with enough water to complete submerge your meat. Put meat into brine, cover, and place in fridge from 8 to 24 hours prior to cooking.

Note: Penderys.com is a great place to order spices if you want fresh good-quality stuff. Otherwise, pick what you want at the market.

The Cookin' Get Ready

Pull the meat out of the brine one hour before cooking to allow it to come to room temp. As soon as you pull it out inject some of the brine into the meat (a big needle & syringe will work or you can get an injector at many hunting supply shops or restaurant supply places). Then massage in a couple of healthy tablespoons of your rub on all sides of the meat. Make sure you get it in the nooks and all over.

Don't wait to cook to fire up your cooker. It it going in time to even out and be close to temperature when you are ready to cook. If your cooker allows set it up for indirect cooking. Since I use a Big Green Egg I use a plate setter for indirect cooking. With this set-up, like some other smokers or grills, you can choose to use a drip pan. I do this and add a can of beer or apple juice just to kick in a little more moisture during the first hours of the cooking until the liquid cooks off.

The Cookin'

Big cuts of meat like brisket and pork butts are most tender at a low cooking temp. 225 degrees works well because it is low, but holds enough fire in most cookers to not go out. If you go much over 275 degrees it is hard to not have tough meat. Note: If your grill has a thermometer in the dome or lid it will show a higher temp than at the grill surface AND many of them are not very accurate. Double Note: Resist the temptation to peek when you are cooking. It disrupts holding an even temperature. With some cookers you get more even results if you flip the meat once during the process, but otherwise leave it alone as much as you can bear.

You will need a meat thermometer. A simple dial model on a stick will work, but if you cook a lot you will want a digital model with a wired probe that can be left in the thickest part of the meat. Tip: The Maverick ET732 of available from Amazon and other places. It measures meat temp, grill surface temp, and has a remote monitor with a 300 foot range. It's an awesome gadget.

Cook to This Internal Meat Temperate

Brisket @ 195

Pork Butt @ 185

Restin' & Servin' (no, it ain't huggin' & squeezin')

Once you pull your meat off it is good to let it rest a bit before cutting or pulling to let the juices redistribute. This helps things be as juicy and tender as possible given the cookin', the cut of meat, and your awesome talent. If you have time, wrap the meat in tin foil and drop in a cooler for a good hour before it is time to serve. It will make more difference than you believe. You can actually go several hours and not need to reheat.

Cuttin' & Pullin' (again, no it ain't huggin' & squeezin')

Cut the brisket across the grain when you are ready to serve. Serving pork butts varies depending on regions of the USA and especially here in The South, but I prefer to pull my into medium chucks with a pair of serving tongs. If you have a tougher chunk or two they can be chopped with a cleaver or butcher knife. DO NOT mix BBQ sauce with the meat. There is nothing wrong with a tasty sauce or two or three, but go pro and serve it on the side to be added by the diner as they see fit.

Serve It Up.

That is it. Serve it up.

Not every detail is included, but you have the basic details. The rest will come to you. Good luck!

May 21, 2014

When our girls lived with us between college graduation and their time working in Kenya we made it a point to all cook Sunday dinner together. Schedules may have allowed us to miss each other a number of times during the week, but we all made it a point to be in the kitchen come late afternoon each Sunday.

Somewhere along the line we started lighting a Jesus candle on the kitchen countertop. We called it "Cooking with Jesus". The idea of Cooking with Jesus involves music, conversation, and laughter. It contains cooperate effort to prepare good food for a great meal. There is a distinct possibility of spontaneous dancing. Did I mention the good music?

There are hugs, tears, and lots of joy. And over the meal the stories of the past week were shared with time lingered over the high as well as low points. Later on dreams of the coming days are spoken. It is good. It is family. It still is family when we get together with our girls and now their men.

Last weekend My Girl and I stopped by a big international market north of Atlanta. I think we both had the same reaction when we turned a corner and spotted this wall of Jesus candles. It was something like, "Whoa, that is a whole lot of Cooking with Jesus. Yes, that is a lot of Jesus".

May 20, 2014

Over the weekend we attended a Crawfish Boil at the T&S Plantation (ok...Brewington home) in Roswell, GA. Featured items included trucked-in live crawfish along with their friend Chad to cook them up right as well as plenty of other tasty food, live music, good conversation, candles and a firepit after dark, laughter, beverages, kids running around, and kinship. I figure if you get any three of these together at one time it is a real good day. If you get all of these things together at one time...yep.

March 19, 2014

August 26, 2013

Out with my girl on a Saturday night in a beach town. We ended up at one of those coastal dive joints that is held together with equal measures of plywood, duct tape, and tarps. There was an impressive gaggle of TV monitors locked on to our proud and mighty Southern Sports Teams & NASCAR. The decor was early stuff that likely just found its way there and patron contributions.

We had pizza and a cold beer. The band set up and without any announcement one by one the band mates kicked in to start playing mix of classic rock & Saturday Nite Country with an original reggae number thrown in just to keep things honest. The lyrics matched the evening and venue. Life's been good, I want to fly like an eagle, I've got my girl, rock me mama like a southbound train, and we are out on a Saturday night. Livin' the life. It was perfect.

July 03, 2013

Long overdue, along with the spring rains came another Sauce Wars. Good food, music, and conversation with fantastic friends is an awesome way to spend an evening. We had a busy spring and I did not get around to writing a full report. So...let's just go to the best part of any Sauce Wars - the comments of our judges panel.

Plummy thick - best with chicken - goes good with cornbread, not just for meat - JB

Hot - YD and (no comment) - TD

Thick, tangy - reminiscent of most standard store-bought brands - LB

BBQ pudding - Baby Diaper Find = a bit bitter on the back end - RC

Pirate's Secret Mustard Sauce - Our kitchen in Greenwood, SC

Not bad for a rookie effort but not quite ready for the sauce wars big leagues - PC

Does this come in a grande or venti? Mustard margarita. Once you go mustard you never go back - KB

Love it. I might buy this. Lime zest - DZ

Very good - TB

The verdict? Well...we hosted and our council of friends are full of grace. Yes, we won with our last minute concoction whisked together in our kitchen after Deni presented the grand idea to give it a try. Go figure. Another Sauce Wars in the books. Good times with great people. Done.

May 19, 2013

So at some point in the early evening I looked around at people in conversation around tables with great food & drink while live music was going on in the background and I thought...there is not much better than getting communities of people together around a shared table for conversation, laughter, and food. Good times. Thanks, my friends.